Just got 2 more downloads, ODDs, making it my BDE in DLs. I have no clue why I am getting these sales when people with ports of 2000-4000 HCV images are reporting lower sales then me.

http://submit.shutterstock.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2520968#2520968

Those of us who have been experiencing site problems over the long term are not talking about month to month or week to week changes, these problems have been going on for well over a year.

Sites do not suddenly go completely down repeatedly because of algorithm changes something is obviously wrong.
Some ports are repeatedly returning errors when customers search their ports... while the majority of you NEVER experience that unfortunate problem.
Ports do not repeatedly go completely missing and become unreachable to buyers because of algorithm changes.
Images do not go completely missing and invisible to buyers because of algorithm changes.
Images do not completely lose all keywords or sometimes only their most important keywords rendering them unsearchable and unavailable to buyers because of algorithm changes.
Images do not suddenly become unsearchable in your own port because of algorithm changes.
Sales do not suddenly drop 30% to 60% overnight and stay that way for months because of algorithm changes

If you have not experienced any of the above count yourself lucky because in all likelihood the site is functioning well enough for your port to have normal sales. Some of us are not as fortunate as you are and therefor we do not have your fortuitous results.

While I agree based on its track record SS is not likely to respond honestly as to why this has been occurring to some of our ports long term. If they respected their submitters they would address the problem and give us good reasons why they have not been able to fix the problems and at least provide us with a timeline under which they expect to resolve the numerous issues some of us experience day in and day out.  I have too much invested to walk away without highlighting the problems with the expectations that SS will one day choose to honor its commitments and provide a functional site to ALL of its contributors.

Posted: Sun May 12, 2013 2:33 pm       

Hello all,

At Shutterstock, we perform regular tests of small modifications to search. Those tests are typically released to limited segments of the overall customer population. If a test wins over time � which typically means that the changes have demonstrably increased the total number of customer downloads � then the resulting improvements are accepted and deployed.

Search testing and analysis is a continuous process of small improvements that generally won�t result in dramatic swings in search. Changes are carefully tested and evaluated to make sure that the overall effect on customer downloads and/or purchases is a positive one.

Customer demand, content differentiation, keyword quantity and quality, global holidays, seasonality and other factors can affect an individual contributor's day-to-day earnings. We recommend allowing a little time before evaluating the effect on your personal portfolio.

Sincerely,
Anthony Correia
Director, Contributor Success
Shutterstock|Bigstock

Announcements
What Our Improved Search System Means for Contributors, Part 2
Posted by kayla / 6.1.12 05:08 pm

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Hello,

We recently announced some improvements to our search algorithm and infrastructure. We fixed a glitch that caused some images to temporarily not appear in search results. We also improved the reliability of the �New� sort order. We tested these improvements with customers and the results have been very positive.

We�ll be testing an additional improvement next week. Our �New� sort order will display more accurate and relevant results. In some instances, a more accurate search result will take slight precedence over upload date, but the search experience for customers will be greatly improved. As a result, it will be less likely to find irrelevant images under the �New� sort order, but applying accurate metadata to your images remains critical.

It is important to note that the core principles driving our algorithms are not changing. These optimizations will create an improved balance of accuracy and freshness and we want to keep you informed as we conduct testing and make updates.

Best Regards,

The Shutterstock Team

I have noticed a significant boost in the amount of downloads i have been getting since starting last week. I would say anywhere from 10-25%. So this explains why as they have tweaked the search for newer files to have a slightly better exposure. Since im fairly new on SS, all my files are new I guess. Im sorry for the older portfolios that is taking a hit from this but this is probably going to be an on going thing where they will be tweaking the search constantly.

I personally find new images on Shutterstock go nowhere fast. In my experience with vectors FT, DP and 123RF  my new images start getting sells faster. In fact Shutterstock makes just slightly more then most of my sites. I'm always so shocked their ranking is so high. I'm often wonder if the results for vectors and photos would be much different. Maybe the Earnings Rating chart should have  photos and vectors split. I think the vector chart would see a very different result.

Maybe because it doesn't say there's a boost for new images? Instead it says the opposite, that accuracy is more important than upload date.

In some instances, a more accurate search result will take slight precedence over upload date, but the search experience for customers will be greatly improved.  As a result, it will be less likely to find irrelevant images under the �New� sort order, but applying accurate metadata to your images remains critical.

Not "tweaking the new search favoring date of upload"?

And the other claim, yes they do live testing.

"At Shutterstock, we perform regular tests of small modifications to search. Those tests are typically released to limited segments of the overall customer population.

Sincerely,
Anthony Correia "

For some reason people make mountains out of mole hills. They do small tests on limited portfolios, now sweeping big changes that kill sales. And while upload date (which is NEWNESS counts it's not as heavily weighted as it was before.

We don't know what other 99 factors go into a search and can only guess. All these claims that somehow SS is fiddling with things and causing sales to drop is the opposite of the truth and pure conjecture. They tweak things to make for better sales. Now maybe that doesn't mean my sales will change or go up, but overall, it's about giving the buyers better results.

Are people against better results? Do the ones complaining want buyers to get irrelevant and worse results? Someone explain?

Quote from: gostwyck on June 12, 2013, 05:44

Quote from: VB inc on June 11, 2013, 21:49

I have noticed a significant boost in the amount of downloads i have been getting since starting last week. I would say anywhere from 10-25%. So this explains why as they have tweaked the search for newer files to have a slightly better exposure. Since im fairly new on SS, all my files are new I guess. Im sorry for the older portfolios that is taking a hit from this but this is probably going to be an on going thing where they will be tweaking the search constantly.

June has got off to a disappointing start at SS for me. Volume of sales is down a bit but the main problem has been the type of sales. I'm still getting plenty of subs but ODD's, EL's and SOD's are significantly down from the norm which obviously has a big impact on earnings.

I can't say that I've noticed a boost for new images either. In my experience (over 8 years) getting new images to take off has never been more difficult than it is now. Those new images that are fortunate enough to gain early sales can gain traction very quickly ... but lots of other images disappear down the Newest sort-order before they are noticed.